Thousands moved safer places in Delhi as Yamuna water level rises

New Delhi: The Delhi government on Tuesday said thousands of people living in the floodplain of the swollen Yamuna river in the city have been shifted to makeshift accommodations in safer places and provided with food and water.

Saurabh Bharadwaj, the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government's water minister, said the evacuation process was underway.

The affected people are being shifted to places in the East, North, Northeast, Southeast, Central and Shahdara districts of Delhi where more than 2,700 tents have been arranged for them, Bharadwaj said at a press conference.

The minister said the water level of the Yamuna was rising due to the discharge of a huge quantity of water from Haryana but a flood was unlikely in Delhi.

"There will be no floods in Delhi. As the Yamuna levels rise, people living close to the riverbanks have to be evacuated. There is no threat of water getting into residential areas close to the river," he said.

Bharadwaj said most of the tents to shelter the evacuated people have been pitched in the East district (1,700), besides 280 in North East Delhi district, 170 in Shahdara, 150 in Central and 384 in South East district among others.

Shelters have also been readied in the North district where food water and other facilities were made available, he said.

After an emergency meeting on Tuesday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said people from the Yamuna floodplain would be evacuated when the river crosses the 206-metre mark.

The river has now exceeded that. Its water level crossed the danger mark of 205.33 metres on Monday evening, much earlier than anticipated. The water level is likely to go up to 206.75 metres by 6 pm as more water was released into the river from the Hathni Kund Barrage in Haryana.